Almost....there...

I guess I have lots to report since its been nearly two weeks since my last post. It's been a good couple of running weeks with good consistency and no injuries to report.

Last Sunday was the most difficult running day I've experienced in a long time, if not ever. Sunday morning we ran the Legs for Literacy 5k in Lincoln Park with our friend Jess. Jess is not a big runner, but wanted to do a little training and run a race with Cass and myself. We looked at several 5k races in May and decided this would be the best one. What we didnt do was take into account our marathon training. Turns out that we had to run 18 miles the same weekend. Originally we were going to do our long run on Saturday, but due to busy schedules it was pushed to Sunday. Since we couldnt do 15 more miles immediately after the race, that meant it was going to be a 21 mile day total. We figured we'd be okay if ran the race VERY conservatively at around 10 minute/mile pace. I kicked it from about 100 yards in, but otherwise it was going to be a warm up.

Later that afternoon we set out for our 18 mile long run on the lakeshore. Maybe it was the 5k, maybe I was just not mentally prepared, but it was extremely hard. We ran about 15 miles on the lakeshore and headed home before running another 4 miles on the river path. 15 plus 4 doesnt equal 18 you're saying, it's 19. Well, I didnt map the run before we left so we ended up running one more mile than we needed to, making it a 22 mile day. BUT we did finish it. It completely whipped us, but we did it. Erik ran with us for the first 15 miles, and with 2 miles to go, Jon caught up with us on the river path to surprise us and help take our minds off our pain while he was finishing his 10 miler. It was a big mental boost. On Monday I felt like I had run a marathon.

On Saturday morning we are running the Soldier Field 10 miler with Jon. We're supposed to have great weather and its a great course so I am really looking forward to it. I picked up our packets at the new Piper's Alley Fleet Feet store yesterday. I also wanted to pick up a new pair of Brooks Adrenalines since I have over 400 miles on my current pair. This will allow me to get about 100 miles on the new pair before the marathon and break them in. I dont know what it was, but I had a horrible experience at the new FF store. All the staff members seemed very rushed and rude. The new store is just huge comparitively and I sort of feel like they've lost some of their quality personal service at the new place. I think I'll stick to the Lincoln Square store when possible. I know they had packet pick-up going on and it was a busy time of day, but isnt personable, quality service their thing? Thats what they promote themselves as anyways.

Well, I will see you on the 50 yard line this weekend.